The “Community Development and Governance” sector program emphasizes social cohesion and diminished social disparity. Centered on themes like Gender Equality, and social inclusion (GESI), Pro-poor Governance, and Community Mobilization (irrespective of ethnicity, race and religion), it aims to boost socio-economic empowerment, especially for women and person with disability/ special ability, empower grassroots organizations in decision-making, and enhance local governance responsive to environmental and climate concerns. Below are the program-specific objectives:
1. To strengthen the socio-economic empowerment of women, ensuring their equal rights to participate in economic, intellectual, and political activities across familial, societal, and political realms without exclusion, discrimination or threat of violence.
2. To strengthen grassroots CSOs/CBOs, empowering them to independently ensure the incorporation of community perspectives in local decision-making processes related to food safety, food security, climate justice, environment, and natural resources equity.
3. To reinforce local government institutions to address governance challenges in rural and urban areas with an approach that is pro-poor, environmentally conscious, and responsive to climate and environment concerns.
4. To strengthen formal and informal community institutions to promote democratic leadership practices.
Centre for Natural Resource Studies (CNRS) has been playing the role of the secretariat of Haor Advocacy Platform (HAP) since 2010. HAP is a multi-stakeholders’ national level advocacy platform of 42 INGOs and NGOs working for the development of the haor areas. The platform aims to coordinate and synchronize scattered advocacy initiatives for haor development in a collective way.
Haor is a single cropped area that is highly susceptible to damage by flashfloods. Therefore, timely completion of submergible embankments is of utmost importance. However, newspaper reports suggest that the repairs of the breaching points of the submergible embankments are being delayed. It has increased the risk of failure; timely completion of the earthwork of submergible embankments may result in the failure of embankments and damage the standing crops. Therefore, there is an urgent need for conducting a special advocacy intervention, viz. Social audit focusing on the implementation status of submergible embankments and preparedness measures for haors. Accordingly, a social audit committee (SAC) was constituted by HAP with civil society members, and electronic and print media members from both national and local levels. SAC members visited haor areas under the Netrakona, Kishoreganj and Sunamganj districts during 23rd-26th March, 2021. The team observed the status of the selected submersible embankments by visiting the sites, and facilitated focus group discussions and key informant interviews with communities, PIC members, Chairmen and Members of respective union parishads, and government officials. Based on the findings, SAC organized a press conference in both Sunamganj and Dhaka and circulated a press release.
The CNRS-TROSA project has been working to improve policies and practice of governments, and the private and other sectors that protect the rights of communities living along the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Salween river basins to water resources. Under this project, 1 dialogue event was conducted with the private sector of fisheries in Chandpur, a total of 120 Nodi Boithoks were conducted in this year, three basin dialogues were conducted with community representatives from Meghna lower basin, Meghna upper basin and Jinjiram basin, and a total of 3 public hearings were conducted in 3 divisions of Bangladesh which are Barishal, Chattogram, and Rangpur.
